Multi-conductor cable media for transmitting electrical or optical signals are widely known and have come into extensive commercial use. Examples include fiber optic ribbon cables, coaxial cables, and electrically shielded electrical cables. All of the known cable media includes some form of insulation layer or protective layer surrounding the signal conductors. Inherent with the use of the known cable media comes the need for stripping off the protective coating to allow its signal conductors to be fitted for connectors.
Examples of electrical cables designed for at least one aspect of stripability are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,490 to Straus et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,944 to Springer et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,348 to Gibson. The Straus et al., patent illustrates a strippable, shielded electrical cable having a plurality of elongated, parallel-spaced electrical conductors encased in a casing of electrical insulation. To strip the cable of the Straus invention, a tool is required to cut both lateral margins of the cable. The Springer et al., patent, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses a high impedance cable that includes a first and second layer of insulation. The second layer of insulation may be stripped to expose the first layer with a conventional stripping tool. The Gibson patent discloses a partially stripped reinforced electrical signal cable. In the Gibson patent, a portion of the electrical conductors are exposed to the elements.
It would be desirable to provide a cable media capable of easy field connectorization while at the same time providing protection to the conductors. Currently, there are two primary multi-conductor connectors used in the fiber optic area. They are, AT&Ts MAC Connector, and the MT Connector made by U.S. Conec. The MAC Connector made by AT&T is not designed to be field installable at all. The MT Connector can be field installed, but not simply. When a field technician desires to insert an MT Connector onto an existing cable, the technician must first cut the cable. The insulation jacket surrounding the cable is typically slit longitudinally to allow the insulation jacket to be peeled back. If the cable is cut too deeply at this point, the conductors could be scratched and damaged. Any strengthening members in the cable must then be peeled back. After peeling back the insulation jacket and any strengthening members that may be present, the technician is left with a fiber ribbon comprising a plastic ribbon coating encapsulating a series of conductors.
The tool used to strip the plastic ribbon coating from the conductors is usually a hot blade stripper. This tool heats up the entire end of the ribbon which is being stripped and then has two blades that come towards one another to cut the ribbon coating and pull the coating off of the fibers. This step often causes damage to the conductors because it is very easy to cut too deeply with the blades and therefore damage the conductors. Once the conductors are exposed and are cleaned with alcohol to remove any remaining coating residue or particles, the connector must be correctly filled with the appropriate amount of adhesive. The conductors are manually inserted through holes in the connector. Once this is done, the adhesive must be cured to secure the conductors in the connector.
It would be desirable to provide an improved cable assembly that allows for easy cable stripping to enhance field connectorization.